{"articles":[{"reaction_config":[{"text":"Support","color":"#2ca788","stance":"support"},{"text":"Oppose","color":"#ef3e42","stance":"oppose"}],"id":46046,"title":"House Democrats Plan to Repeal Hyde Amendment Next Year, Allow Federal Funding of Abortion - Are You In Favor?","html_content":"

by Causes | 8.31.20

What’s the story?

House Democrats are signalling that they will be pushing to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal dollars from funding abortions in most cases, by excluding the provision from annual spending bills starting next year.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services (HHS) and is in the running to replace retiring Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) as chair of the full appropriations committee, offered the following statement after her subcommittee included Hyde Amendment provisions in this year’s funding bill:

“Although this year’s bill includes it, let me be clear, we will fight to remove the Hyde Amendment to ensure that women of color and all women have access to the reproductive health they deserve.”

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), a co-chair of the House Pro-Choice Caucus, told the Los Angeles Times that more than 200 House Democrats at present support repealing the Hyde Amendment, and that she hopes Democrats will have a majority of the House (at least 218 votes) by next year.
The bid to try to repeal the Hyde Amendment comes as leading Democrats change their perspectives on the policy, which has enjoyed bipartisan support sufficient enough to be enacted annually for 44 years. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that with regard to the Hyde Amendment’s future, “The House will work its will.” Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, reversed his decades-long support of the Hyde Amendment in 2019 and now supports its repeal.

What is the Hyde Amendment?

Introduced by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) in 1976, three years after the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions on abortion rights in Roe v. Wade and in Doe v. Bolton, the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal Medicaid funding to provide abortions except in cases when the abortion is sought to protect the life of the mother.
The Hyde Amendment was first adopted in 1976 as part of the annual Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) funding package and restricted federal Medicaid funding. The provision has been reenacted annually since then, but the language has evolved over the years.
As it applies currently, the Hyde Amendment includes exceptions for abortions in cases where the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest in addition to those intended to protect the mother’s long-term health.
The Hyde Amendment and similar state-level bills have survived legal challenges that reached the Supreme Court, which held that there is no statutory or constitutional requirement that the federal government or states fund either elective or medically-necessary abortions.

What’s the outlook for repealing the Hyde Amendment?

If House Democrats retain their majority in the next Congress and have the 218 votes the Pro-Choice Caucus is pushing for, it will trigger a showdown over the Hyde Amendment provisions.
Whether Senate Republicans keep their majority or end up in the minority, they will in all likelihood have at least 41 votes to deny Democrats the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.
Such an impasse could derail broader funding negotiations, risking a partial government shutdown, or it could prompt a Democratic Senate majority to attempt to eliminate the legislative filibuster so they can advance a bill repealing the Hyde Amendment on a simple majority vote.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Nancy Pelosi via Flickr / Creative Commons)

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I believe in science, climate change, the earth is round, safe , legal abortions, and an end to hatred and bigotry of all kinds. I’m what’s called a RedLetter Christian and don’t waste my time in Leviticus. I don’t shove my beliefs down your throat and neither should you. I think we can disagree without wishing each other harm and would welcome the return of common human decency. I believe in the US Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. Earth before Country. People before Corporations. Love before all.","twitter_id":"","facebook_id":"dayers55@yahoo.com","youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":"","website":null,"slug":"kodiwodi","issue_count":91,"is_following":null,"influence_score":15675,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":345,"following_count":35,"position_count":627,"id":"e9X3M3Dm","partner_id":null},{"name":"Mary","vote_count":187,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/3403799189676107/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/3403799189676107/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/3403799189676107/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/3403799189676107/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/P9odBYoW/following","followers":"/api/users/P9odBYoW/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":"","slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":1280,"influence_level":30,"follower_count":53,"following_count":0,"position_count":70,"id":"P9odBYoW","partner_id":"efa417af-11b4-4a08-9b10-fff245626400"},{"name":"jimK","vote_count":544,"photos":{"large":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/large_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","small":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/small_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg","tiny":"https://assets.causes.com/user/avatar/9odrQBnb/tiny_9odrqbnb-1557000969.jpg"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/following","followers":"/api/users/9odrQBnb/followers"},"about_me":"Retired, Politically Independent. Won’t listen to slogans, chanted mantras or generally any kind of marketing spin or “rebranding” crap. I firmly believe that everyone else is entitled to their erroneous opinions. Citizen vigilance and due diligence is price we must pay to live in a thriving, functional democracy.\nI fear that our citizens are too easily swayed by politician’s pablum about “babies”, “jobs” and now, in particular, perceived “enemies”. I fear that a citizenry focused on the “here-and-now” is easily tricked by short term benefits that have negative long-term consequences. I fear that our legislators are more concerned about buffing their constituents than looking out for the long-term welfare of our country- and are way too eager to provide those short-term benefits to the “here-and-now” crowd.\nI fear that honor is generally being sacrificed/replaced by expediency. I hear politicians eloquently argue for one side of an issue and later, when it’s to their benefit, just as eloquently argue for the opposite side. OK, so they are good at arguing- but what is that they actually believe? What is it that they actually stand for? An honorable person has values that persist even when it is not convenient or expedient. An honorable person has a moral compass that stops them from doing something wrong even if it is not illegal. A foul is a foul- even if the referee doesn’t catch you.\nI fear that each of our federal governmental branches have devised or discovered shortcuts which tend to protect them from the checks and balances our founders intended.","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"jimk","issue_count":4,"is_following":null,"influence_score":44700,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":1524,"following_count":81,"position_count":539,"id":"9odrQBnb","partner_id":null}],"article_comment":{"flagged":false,"id":1342988,"body":"It’s none of my business what a woman does with her body, and I’ve seen over the years the rise of personal freedom. I count more personal freedom (and the responsibility that goes with it) as a good thing. I support eliminating the Hyde amendment. Although as I say, I have no skin in the game.","parent_type":"Article","parent_id":46046,"created_at":"2020-09-01T12:52:37.791Z","liked":false,"like_count":3,"links":{"self":"https://www.causes.com/comments/1342988","likers":"https://www.causes.com/api/v1/likers?likeable_id=1342988&likeable_type=Comment"},"article_id":46046,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/comments/1342988.png","note":{"text":"Support","color":"#2ca788","stance":"support"},"note_text":"Support","note_color":"#2ca788","user_id":"eWMgAO8m","liker_ids":["e9X3M3Dm","P9odBYoW","9odrQBnb"]}}

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